Museum Murderbillia

Ted Kaczynski’s 1.4 acre plot of land in Montana has just gone up for sale valued at $69,000. Ted Kaczynski, a former mathematics professor is the Unabomber who posted parcel bombs that ended up killing three people. One of his intended victims was James McConnell who I wrote about in Supersense. He was the wacky scientist who believed in the cellular memory hypothesis where learning could be transferred from one animal to another by simply feeding the first animal to the second. I described McDonnell’s cellular memory work in the book to explain the claims of transplant patients who believe they take on the personalities of their donors. But I digress.

The sale of  Kaczynski’s land is not that newsworthy and I doubt the story will raise much of an eyebrow as he was not your hardcore disgusting murderer like Jeffrey Dahmer or Fred West. But where was the cabin where Kaczynski plotted to overthrow the modern world? It turns out that this is now in the possession of the Newseum, Washington – DC’s Most Interactive  Museum. I used to think that murderbillia was really for the cranks and weirdos but now it seems that museums are also getting into the macabre.

I shouldn’t be too surprised. As a kid growing up in Dundee in Scotland, I remember that my favourite exhibits were the executioner’s block, replete with many grooves from the accompanying axe, a moth eaten mummy from Eygpt, but best of all, the shriveled, shrunken head from South American. Yup, I guess the signs were all there from the very beginning.

Thanks to Steve for sending me the story.